English A IO Bullet Points Examples

Getting ready for your English A Individual Oral (IO) but unsure how to structure your bullet points for the exam? Don’t worry – you’re in the right place. In this post, we’ll walk you through clear examples to help you prepare. 

English A IO Bullet Points Examples

Students are allowed to bring a single sheet containing a maximum of 10 bullet points into the IB English Individual Oral (IO) examination. The IB emphasizes that students are not permitted to bring long blocks of text. The bullet points must be genuine – concise and not written as full paragraphs. This is because students are expected to speak naturally during the IO, not simply read from a script. Therefore, developing a clear and concise set of bullet points that effectively support your delivery is an important skill. In this post, we will provide examples of strong bullet point lists based on full IO scripts. These examples will help you understand the nature of the IO and how to transform a detailed script into a useful, exam-appropriate bullet point sheet. 

Example 1

The bullet point list below is based on this sample IO. 

1. [0:00 – 1:00] Introduction – Global Issue & Works Introduced: General intro to the IO; Present global issue: The physical and mental impact of unrealistic beauty standards on women. Brief explanation of why this issue is both academically and personally relevant. 
2. [1:00 – 2:00] Literary Extract – Structure & symbolism in The Diet: The poem’s rigid stanza structure mirrors the harsh control of dieting; Short last lines reflect binge-restrict cycles Internal rhyme (“eight stone...skin and bone”) creates momentum, symbolizing how quickly beauty obsession spirals
3. [2:00 – 2:30] Literary Extract – Personification and paradox in The Diet: “Anorexia’s true daughter”: personification and paradox → shows how eating disorders become central to identity; Highlights how society nurtures unhealthy ideals like a parent would a child
4. [2:30 – 3:00] Literary Extract – Metaphor & idiom to reveal psychological decline: “She drifted away on a breeze” → metaphor for fading self-control and identity loss; “Worked like a dream” → idiom used ironically to mimic diet ads, showing how language manipulates women into self-destruction
5. [3:00 – 4:00] Literary Body of Work – Medusa and the monsterization of non-conforming women: Rhetorical questions (“Wasn’t I beautiful?”) reflect internalized insecurity; “Look at me now” as a double entendre: threat + desperate plea for validation; Duffy shows how women are vilified when they deviate from societal ideals
6. [4:00 – 5:00] Literary Body of Work – Beautiful and media exploitation of ideal women: Allusion to Marilyn Monroe: “The camera loved her...” shows objectification; “She couldn’t die when she died” → media’s continued consumption of her image after death; Suggests that even idealized beauty does not protect women from harm
7. [5:00 – 6:00] Non-Literary Extract – Visual metaphor in You Are Not Yourself: Broken mirror symbolizes shattered self-image; Girl crying = visual expression of emotional damage from beauty pressure; The message layered over the mirror (“You Are Not Yourself”) directly challenges how beauty standards erase identity
8. [6:00 – 7:00] Non-Literary Extract – Use of color and advertisement critique: Red text box mimics ads but signals danger → visual irony; Black and white scheme evokes timelessness of the issue and dramatizes tension; Kruger critiques the media for perpetuating outdated, harmful ideals 
9. [7:00 – 8:00] Non-Literary Body of Work – Just Be Yourself and ironic messaging: Diction mocks beauty industry hypocrisy: promotes “natural beauty” using filtered models; Image of a flawless woman contradicts the slogan → reveals how media sets up women to fail; Reinforces the loss of authenticity due to curated expectations
10. [8:00 – 9:00] Non-Literary Body of Work – Who’s the Fairest of Them All? and toxic comparison: Superlative “fairest” intensifies competition among women; Red colour signifies anger and urgency, while black/white background dramatizes emotional divide; Kruger critiques how women measure self-worth based on others’ appearance; Conclusion: wrap up [9: 00 – 10:00]